Today we had the second of three visits from Kilmarnock Academy. We got the opportunity to make a headpiece that we can model in a catwalk on Thursday 19th March. We started with a papier-mache skull cap and began to transform it into a unique headpieces. Here are a few pictures from this morning.
P7 had a great time at their Science Transition event at Kilmarnock Academy on Wednesday. They got to work with pupils from other schools and visit the school’s Science Department. 
Andrew in P7McN recently held a birthday party where he asked his guests not to give him any presents but instead to make a donation to a charity of his choice. Andrew’s charity of choice was the Children’s Ward at Crosshouse Hospital and he has managed to raise in excess of £300! Everyone in P7 is very proud of you and the fact that you have put others before yourself. A true Onthank citizen! 
All Primary 7 pupils will be taking part in a Science Day as part of their transition to Secondary in August. This will take place on Wednesday, 26th February at Kilmarnock Academy. This is for all pupils who attend primary schools that are part of the Kilmarnock Academy Learning Community.
We will be leaving Onthank just after 9am and returning for the end of day bell at 3pm. Can everyone please bring a snack and drink as well as a packed lunch. Children entitled to a free school meal will have a packed lunch provided.
As part of their work on STEM this term, all of the P7 classes has been investigating what makes a strong structure. for the last couple of week they have been working in teams of four to build their own geodesic dome using plasticene and cocktail sticks.
How does it work? – Geodesic domes are extremely rigid. Multiple interlocking triangles form incredibly strong structures. To deform or buckle a triangle you have to compress or stretch the lengths of the sides, which is hard to do as they support each other.
As part of our work on Money this week with Miss McGill, 7Mc have been introduced to SCOOT. Around the classroom were 26 individual questions based on what the children have been learning. Using their numeracy skills and working to a time limit for each question, they had to work out the answers. At the end everyone shared their answer and strategies for solving each problem. Everyone agreed it has been a fun way to doing our daily numeracy. 
This week Primary 7 have been issued with a letter detailing some of the transition events they will be involved with this session. The first event will be a P7 Parents Evening taking place on Tuesday, 10th December at 6.30pm.
A copy of the letter can be found here: transition letter
As part of work towards Gold Dyslexia Friendly Schools status, P7Mc along with the rest of the school undertook a variety of learning activities that didn’t require any writing implements. We continued to use the Active Spelling strategies we have already blogged about. We also worked in pairs to solve Tarsia Puzzles about simplifying fractions. We did this in pairs, discussing what we already knew and working together to solve the jigsaw. In the afternoon we painted our own versions of the Great Wave off Kanagawa. We weren’t allowed to sketch any of it out first and had to go straight in with paint. We are all quite pleased with our results.
